


Bed Of Roses

by Scourgefan12



Category: Hellsing
Genre: Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:33:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26319487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scourgefan12/pseuds/Scourgefan12
Summary: Above all else, Luke always tried to be a good brother.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	Bed Of Roses

**Author's Note:**

> Worth mentioning, I imagine Luke & Jan being about 6 years apart in age, so during the time of this story Jan would be like 9

Luke tried to provide for his family. He _really_ tried. Unfortunately, doing so was a lot easier said than done.

He was only fifteen, and there weren't exactly a myriad of people willing to hire someone who was essentially still a child. That on top of his lack of experience and having to factor school into his schedule made finding and keeping jobs quite the challenge.

Eventually, after debating with himself for a while, he opted to drop out. As much as it pained him, and would likely make finding a stable job harder once he was an adult, he needed all the time he could get. Being able to work any day during any hour would open up more opportunities for him, and he couldn't turn something like that down just because his pride would be wounded if he quit school.

Luckily, this did end up helping. It didn't solve the other problems, but at the very least it left him with more options.

He sometimes tried to solve the problem of his age by simply lying. He only did this when he was fairly sure he could get away with it. He had few ways of knowing when he would be believed though, so he kind of just did it at random. Whenever he felt it might be needed.

It worked out well enough, usually. Apparently he was really good at acting older than he really was.

Of course, there were times where it didn't work and they'd kick him out for not only being underage but daring to lie to them about it. This didn't happen nearly as often as he would've expected, though.

However, many times when he got away with lying his employers would find out after the fact and end up firing him. This wasn't great, as it meant he'd have to start his job hunt all over again. 

When it was possible, he tried to have at least two jobs, that way if one of them let him go he wouldn't be stuck with nothing. It could take him weeks to find a new job, and going that long while not earning anything was the last thing he needed.

Often times, even when his work was as stable as it could get, things weren't great for them. Sure, they were well off enough to afford basic necessities. It was just that they couldn't afford a lot of these things, so sometimes one of them had to get less than the other, or go without entirely.

Such as with clothes. They couldn't just get new clothes whenever they felt like it, so if something they owned ripped or got stained then they would just have to live with it. The times where they could get new clothes, Luke would always buy more for Jan than himself. It only seemed fair, his brother needed them more than he did. 

Jan was much less careful than Luke. While Luke could easily wear the same four outfits for years while hardly damaging any of them, all of Jan's clothes were very well worn. You could tell just by looking that anything he wore was something he'd owned for a long time, and none of it aged well. With the amount of scuffs, tears and the like it almost seemed like he didn't try taking care of his clothes at all.

It wasn't his fault though, he was just a child. It would be unfair to expect him to be hyper-vigilant and careful about that sort of thing.

Luke knew Jan got picked on for it at school, though. So of course when they had the means, Luke did what he could to try and help.

Luke suspected that no matter how much he bought Jan, that wouldn't stop the other children from bullying his brother. The problem wasn't that Jan was "dirty" or "poor", it was that children were cruel, especially to those different from them. They jumped on things like that, using them as an excuse. In reality, even if neither of those things were a factor, the other kids would find more reasons and excuses. If Jan were well off, they would pick on him for being annoying. If he were well behaved, they would go after his appearance.

Not that they didn't do these things already, but still.

Knowing this made Luke's blood boil, but it wasn't like he could do anything about it. The school didn't give a damn, as long as nobody was being physically harmed then it wasn't their problem. Even if Jan were being hurt, Luke had to wonder if any of the teachers would care. Some of them maybe, but most of them would likely only worry about what such a thing would mean for their jobs.

All Luke could really do about all this was comfort Jan, as well as steer him away from resorting to violence. While fighting back may help him be left alone, at least for a little while, Luke knew the blame for such an incident would be solely placed on Jan, and he didn't want his brother getting in trouble.

Another thing they had to be careful with was food. When things were going well, there was enough for both of them. However, even a single financial bump in the road could change this. There were many times where Luke would have to choose between the two of them to decide who would have the privilege of eating that night.

Obviously, it wasn't ever a real choice, Luke would choose the same thing every time without hesitation. He would never entertain the thought of letting Jan go hungry. It didn't matter how painful it was for him, or how it would sometimes get bad enough that it was harder for him to function. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he were selfish enough to let his own brother starve when he had the option to prevent it.

When things got this bad, he would at least try to eat enough to stay alive. He would be of no use to anyone if he were dead. Any more than that would just be greedy though, as far as he was concerned. He could wait to treat himself with things like full meals when he had the means to afford them.

There were times when he was tempted to try and make money through less traditional methods. Things like stealing, or scamming others. If he were good at these things, they would be far more reliable than actual work.

He never had the guts to go through with any of this though, the threat of getting caught was enough to deter him. If he were to get arrested, or hurt, then he didn't know what would happen to Jan. He also really didn't want to risk finding out.

So, he made do. He did what he reasonably could, and just hoped things would get better in the future.

He knew, at least, that once he reached the legal working age things would improve. Maybe not by a lot, but work would likely be a lot more stable. He could hardly wait for that, not worrying about getting fired or denied a job for his age seemed like a dream. Then all he would have to worry about were things like experience and professionalism and such.

When he wasn't busy worrying about money and the like, his attention was almost always focused on Jan. Really, how could it not be? Jan was possibly the biggest part of his life, and he suspected that feeling was mutual. Luke took care of pretty much all the responsibility of looking after Jan, he was really the only positive older figure in the young boy's life.

Normally this sort of role would fall upon a parent. However, their mother was no longer with them, and their father... Well, Luke didn't like to think about their father.

So naturally, the task of caregiver fell upon Luke. 

It was hard work. As it turned out, children had lots of energy and required a lot of attention. They didn't have much life experience yet, and as such they were very needy. You had to be very patient, being quick to anger would only make taking care of them harder, as well as potentially just make them scared of you.

Luke often felt like he had no idea what he was doing. He tried his hardest with what knowledge he had, but he feared that he was messing something up. He didn't know what exactly, he just had the vague feeling that he was doing _something_ wrong.

Maybe it was the lack of time he spent with his brother. He would leave Jan home alone often when he had to work, not being able to afford any sort of babysitter, and when he got home he would usually just want to rest. Even on his days off, they rarely did anything special with their time together.

He felt bad about this, of course he did. Jan must have been lonely, spending that much time by himself couldn't have been pleasant. Luke didn't really know any better alternatives, though. It wasn't like he had any friends that he could ask to watch Jan for him, his brother was the only friend he had.

That being said, there were areas where Luke felt like he was doing a good job. Or, at least a passable job.

Helping Jan out with school was one of these things. 

Jan frequently had trouble grasping what was being taught to him. Whether this was his own fault for not paying attention, or a problem with his teacher's methods, it was hard to say.

Luke knew his brother though, and knew that Jan was smart enough to understand these things if he tried.

Jan didn't seem to think so. There were times when he was frustrated to the point of tears at how hard some of his assignments were, or at how far behind the rest of the class he was. He was perfectly fine with quitting, just wanting nothing to do with any of it.

Luke wouldn't allow this, determined to help Jan push through. In fact, seeing Jan so upset only made him more adamant about making this happen. Jan was _not_ stupid, and seeing him so willing to believe that this was the case was entirely unacceptable.

It took time, and lots of patience, but he did eventually find methods of teaching that seemed to work for Jan. That wasn't to say that Jan stopped having any trouble, but as long as Luke was around to help explain things to him, he usually would be able to manage.

Jan was always so happy whenever he got a passing grade. He would show Luke his report card while buzzing with joy.

Luke would make sure to let Jan know he was proud, encouraging him to keep up the good work.

A little bit of tutoring and positive reinforcement did wonders. Plus, actually listening to his brother's complaints about whatever he was having trouble with and trying to work around those. Over time, Jan stopped being embarrassed about asking Luke for help, and didn't seem to dread their sessions together nearly as much.

Luke was really glad that Jan trusted him enough to rely on him like this. Asking someone for help wasn't easy, especially when most people in your life would simply ignore the fact that you were struggling at all, or would dismiss such struggles as you just being an idiot. 

School troubles weren't the only thing Jan trusted him with, though. His brother would also come to him when he was scared or in need of emotional support, which were problems more often than Luke liked. Knowing that Jan had to deal with such things at such a young age broke his heart, but knowing that he was apparently able to help was a relief. He couldn't imagine how hard these things would be for Jan to deal with on his own.

Luke still felt like he didn't know what he was doing a lot of the time, but if Jan trusted him this much, he must have been doing something right. 

So, he kept doing things as he'd been doing. If he did, then things would eventually work out. He hoped so, at least.

**Author's Note:**

> I have so many thoughts abt pre-Millennium Valentine brothers but I hardly know how to write any of them. Just know that these 2 are very important to me  
> I struggled w/ this near the ending specifically, idk how the fuck to write endings


End file.
